The founder of the Swindon Advertiser will be celebrated with a blue plaque this week.

William Morris set up Swindon's first newspaper - which is also believed to be the UK's first penny paper - in 1854.

Morris produced the first four-page-long edition himself, acting as editor, reporter and printer. He then continued as owner and editor for 37 years until his death in 1891.

Swindon Heritage team have installed a blue plaque on the former Swindon Advertiser building on Victoria Road.

It was sponsored by Morris's great-grandson Desmond Morris and will be unveiled this Saturday at 11am.

Swindon's Heritage team started the blue plaque scheme in the town in 2016 to "permanently celebrate" the famous people, places and events that have contributed to Swindon's history.

Editor Morris founded the Swindon Advertiser because he wanted to produce a newspaper that would "act as a mouthpiece for the poor", charging one penny for an edition.

The newspaper was initially printed monthly because of Stamp Tax laws and was called the Swindon Advertiser And Monthly Record.When these tax laws changed, the paper was published weekly.

Morris moved the publication to the Victoria Road premises where the new plaque will be. The Adver relocated to offices at Richmond House in Dorcan in April 2018.

The first Swindon editor was famed for his editorials. In one piece, he "berated" the local gentry for organising a barbecue on the ice at Coate Water and using meat as a football when people were struggling to afford food.

This resulted in effigies of Morris and copies of the paper being burned in the town.

Columnist Graham Carter said: "What makes Morris even more memorable is that he was a tireless champion of ordinary people, who used his paper to put a spotlight on anyone falling short of the high standards he believed should apply to people in authority, public office or positions of privilege.

"He was strongly opposed to blood sports and regularly stood up for people at the very bottom of the social scale - those in the Swindon workhouse - by getting himself on the Board of Guardians and for the next 25 years making a nuisance of himself whenever the inmates were being badly treated."

London's blue plaques scheme, run by English Heritage, has inspired similar schemes in places like Swindon to celebrate the links between figures of the past and the buildings in which they lived and worked.

Footballer Harold Fleming, actress Diana Dors, nature writer Richard Jefferies and suffragette Edith New are some of the famous names to have blue plaques in Swindon.